Top agricultural apps of 2013

YieldCheck

Category: Calculators

Developed by Precision Planting, YieldCheck provides an easy way for growers to calculate and store corn yield estimates. Estimates can be mapped based on satellite imagery and are calculated by entering kernel counts for just three ears of corn. Cost: Free.

IRM Refuge Calculator

Category: Calculators

The IRM (Insect Resistance Management) refuge calculator is a tool brought to you by the National Corn Growers Association and is intended to illustrate the appropriate refuge calculation, the quantity of standard seed bags to purchase for both trait and refuge, and possible planting configurations for planting certain corn products in the U.S. Cost: Free.

Mix Tank

Category: Calculators

Mix Tank is designed to help applicators calculate the proper rates for tank mixing and determining the right sequence of crop protection products. There is also a weather integration feature to help manage spray drift. From Precision Laboratories, the app has a database of over 1,300 crop protection products. Cost: Free.

Fertilizer Removal by Crop

Category: Calculators

This app from Ag PhD will help you determine how many nutrients you’re removing from your soil. The goal is to help you when planning your fertilizer applications and yield goals. You can either save the results in the app or email them to yourself or your agronomist. Cost: Free.

Harvest Loss Calculator

Category: Calculators

Also from Ag PhD, the Harvest Loss Calculator allows you to determine how much of your crop will be left in the field after harvest. Enter the crop, number of seeds/kernals you count on the ground in a square foot, and the app will calculate your harvest loss in bushels/acre and pounds/acre. Cost: Free.

Connected Farm Scout by Trimble

Category: Scouting & Identification

While Trimble offers other Connected Farm apps, the scouting-specific app helps you map field boundaries, locate irrigation pivots and enter a variety of scouting information. Long lists of weeds, insects and diseases are available, and you can log problems as you go. Cost: Free.

Field Guide from Ag PhD

Category: Scouting & Identification

The Ag PhD Field Guide helps you to identify problem pests while you’re out in your field. You can browse weeds and insects by name and view photos and read control recommendations. Cost: Free. Search: Ag PhD Field

Weed Spotter

Category: Scouting & Identification

This weed identification tool from Bayer CropScience provides an interactive user experience where a farmer can browse photos of almost 100 weeds. Each weed is also described in detail for the user. You can search for a specific weed or browse through them in A to Z format. Cost: Free. Search: Weed spotter

Purdue Extension Corn and Soybean Field Guide

Category: Scouting & Identification

This app provides a range of tools but the weed and pest identification areas are particularly helpful. It includes hundreds of high-quality images to help you diagnose problems and understand common issues in corn and soybean production. Short videos also illustrate important concepts. There also is a tool for submitting samples to the Purdue Plant and Pest Diagnostic Laboratory. Cost: $12.99. Search: Purdue Extension

Pioneer Field 360 services

Category: Management

There are several apps housed under Pioneer’s Field360 services, including the Plantability app (Free), Field360 Tools ($9.99), and Field360 Notes (Free, see Scouting section). The whole suite aims to offer growers a number of tools to help them farm efficiently from planting through harvest. Search: Pioneer Field360

FarmLogs

Category: Management

The FarmLogs app allows you to record information on planting, spraying, harvesting, weather and more. You can also watch the markets to get the best prices for grain, schedule operations, and visualize rainfall throughout the growing season. Cost: Free for app, visit farmlogs.com for more information. Search: FarmLogs

Winfield R7 Tool

Category: Management

The R7 Tool from Winfield used to be available only as a Web-based program but is now being launched as an iPad app. The tool uses satellite imagery to determine the best seed and crop protection products for specific areas within a farm. Contact your local Winfield dealer for information.

Monsanto FieldScripts/FieldView

Category: Management

Monsanto’s FieldScripts services help growers work with their local dealer to determine the best seed products and planting rates based on a variety of data. The grower uses the FieldView app from Precision Planting and connects it to their Seed Sense 20/20 monitor in the planter, and data is collected and analyzed throughout the growing season. This will be available in 2014 in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota. Cost: Free for app, see local Monsanto dealer for more information. Search: FieldView

JD Link

Category: Management

John Deere’s JD Link is a telematics system for growers to manage their John Deere equipment. It offers directions to machines, machine mapping, remote display access and more. Search: JDLink Cost: Free for app, see dealer for more information.

AGCO AgCommand

Category: Management

AGCO also offers a way to manage fleet on the farm. The app allows AGCO equipment operators to manage their equipment from anywhere at anytime. AgCommand offers a way to track a machine’s performance and send alrts from vehicles and machines. It also offers mapping services. Cost: Free for app, see dealer for more information. Search: AGCOMMAND

National Farm Machinery Show app

Category: Penton/Farm Progress apps

The 2014 National Farm Machinery Show takes place in Louisville Feb. 12-15 this year. The NFMS app brings you a list of exhibitors and where they are on a map. It also offers suggestions for local food and entertainment options, along with a list of the educational seminars at the show. Cost: Free. Search: NFMS

Husker Harvest Days app

Category: Penton/Farm Progress apps

You’ll find exhibitor listings by categories, along with maps and other tools that will help you plan accordingly for the Husker Harvest Days show Sept. 9-11 in Grand Island, Neb. Cost: Free. Search: Husker Harvest Days

Is your shiny new smartphone from the holidays being put to use? While there is still some downtime until planting, now is the perfect time to fire it up and download some agricultural apps that may help you out a lot this growing season. But where do you start?

There are dozens of apps out there that offer many different services to growers. Here, we take a look at some of the top apps we saw throughout 2013 and break them down for you by their function. We don’t list every ag app that’s available, but we give you a good selection to choose from. Work with your local dealers for apps that help with input selection, since many companies offer their own brand-specific apps. But here we focus on apps in groups by calculators, scouting/identification and overall farm management. Open up your app store and get ready to search for the ones that you think you’ll need most this year.